Following up on a fleeting thought from the Schadenfreude post-race thread ... let's just say Boonen wakes up tomorrow and decides he's done with bunch sprints. Reasons are plenty, self-preservation, lack of a Petacchi/Cavendish style leadout, too many better sprinters, lack of interest, maybe he wants to avoid brain damage so he can play with the future little Tommekes. Who knows?

What would his future be? I thought of a few possible career arcs and they don't sound too shabby:

1. Be like Cancellara -- it's been said this year that they could have been each other, so maybe Tom could do the magical things that Fabian does. TT like a god, win MSR and Tour stages with panache from 2k out, get us all in a tizzy by what he did at the Olympics RR, and be a STUD for a tour-winning team.
2. Be like Jens! -- breakaway specialist, winner of minor events, universally loved for his toughness and willingness to attack whenever and whereever
3. Be like Hincapie -- focus on the cobbles, be a super-domestique and the dude can sprint out of a small group given the opportunity.
4. Be like Thor - come to think of it, Thor is a low-rent Boonen so not a real good option

IMHO 1 is the only one that is even remotely close to what Boonen is today. And despite everyone's love of Fabian, I would take Tommeke's current and future palmares in a heartbeat.

I'm pretty ignorant on the past, present and future of cycling compared to the collective intelligence of PdC so I ask you -- let's say Tommeke won't bunch sprint anymore, what career arc could he have?

We're sorry we called you boring
We're sorry we called you a wheelsucker
We're sorry we called you short
We're sorry we called you bald
We're sorry we said you couldn't grow facial hair
We're sorry we said you showed no emotion
We're sorry we said you couldn't be a team leader
We're sorry we said you would only carry water for Lance

Please add your apologies. Maybe we can print these all out and order Levi a big FTD bouquet.

For those Wire fans out there...

I have a new Lance theory. Lance is Marlo Stanfield. He cannot live outside of the game. Simple as that. Sorry but watching him play cancer funding politics is like watching Marlo with the Baltimore real estate developers. You knew it could not last..

Imagine this scene replayed on L'Alpe next July:

Lance (to Schleck the Younger, Gesink, pick your upstart): "Do you know who I am?"

Andy: "Do you know who I am? Didn't you see what I did last year?"

And then shots are fired...

OK I'm not a huge Levi fan, but I like the guy. Liked him when he came out of nowhere to podium at the Vuelta way back, liked him when he had the balls to leave USPS, felt sorry for him when he get zero support from Gerolsteiner, even respected his willingness to be 2nd banana at Disco last year twice -- first when they signed Basso and he had to do all of those interviews, then when The Accountant climbed better at the Tour. C'mon he even played water boy for George at US champs in 2006.

But conventional wisdom in the Podium Café community seems against Levi. Why?

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Watching col d'aubisque again -- you really gotta hand it to Boogie riding so hard for El Pollo Dopo in his last tour. I hope he decides to ride on to Paris, and I hope Disco or Predictor let him lead the Peloton onto the Champe Elysees. He's class.

Maybe I'm just looking for a silver lining, but that would make me happy.